


hear tomorrow singing from around the bend

by friendly_ficus



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: (the point is the next episode), Coda, Gen, Road Trips, Seeing the future, but also a scene where everyone chooses car snacks, canon compliant (up to a point), reference to potential future violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-13 16:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21180428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendly_ficus/pseuds/friendly_ficus
Summary: The lights pass overhead as Gorgug’s van rumbles down the highway. In the passenger seat, Adaine leans her head against the window and listens to the murmur of the radio. Occasionally, Boggy lets out a reassuring littleribbit.Gorgug flicks on the blinker, the indicator light clicking on and off as he moves the van into the right lane. Outside the car, Fabian sits like a statue on The Hangman.(In the foreign land that is the future, Riz Gukgak stands on a dock and raises his gun.)





	hear tomorrow singing from around the bend

They leave Elmville in the early afternoon with a full tank of gas, Gilear taking down lunch orders from the back of the car. Cathilda offers everyone a biscuit again and Tracker agrees, shifting to sit up fully. Kristen glances at her shoulder for a moment, transfixed by the warmth left by her girlfriend’s head. Tracker, seeing this, smiles and breaks the snack in half.

In the front seat, Boggy the Froggy lets out a little _ ribbit _ and despite her worries Adaine smiles. She isn’t sure—she doesn’t know if they can risk sleeping tonight, with the Nightmare King and everything that’s going on. But they have to, they have to sleep eventually because they’ll be driving all night and if you don’t sleep you get exhausted, and if you get exhausted you get sloppy and if you get sloppy you can— _ ribbit. _Adaine relaxes her shoulders. Once they get Fig and Riz back, they will be able to take some kind of decisive action against the Nightmare King. Everything’s going to be, well, not fine but at least survivable. When her friends are together, anything is survivable. 

Adaine sees Fabian in the side mirror, his face set in a stony expression. _ He should really be wearing a helmet, _she thinks, and pulls a small piece of copper wire from her jacket to ask if he’s got one.

“The Hangman is a magical sentient motorcycle, Adaine, I don’t need a _ helmet.” _

In the side mirror, he meets her gaze and rolls his eyes.

She casts Message again just to send him a frustrated _ hrmph. _

Fabian turns his eyes back to the horizon, sure that The Hangman will continue to move even if he falls asleep at the handlebars. Fig and The Ball are out there somewhere and Adaine’s thinking about _ helmets. _ Just, _ honestly. _

_ This is no time to start observing traffic laws, _ he thinks.

** _Correct, sire, _ ** The Hangman growls. ** _We are busy reuniting your crew._ **

Back in the passenger seat, Adaine’s first vision splits the future along two paths. It’s hazy, almost dreamlike, coming to her through the smooth flow of the guardrail out the window.

In the vision, Gorgug says, “Hey, could you change the radio station? They’re playing the same stuff over and over again.”

DJ whatever-their-name-is begins a new set, with a crackling _ You’re gonna love this new _— 

Adaine turns the dial at random and lands on some song in Infernal, and a little frown crosses Gorgug’s face. The vision ends.

One minute passes. Boggy gives a _ ribbit. _

Gorgug says, “Hey, could you change the radio station? They’re playing the same stuff over and over again.” 

Adaine blinks. The visions are meant to be important. All of the books say the visions are important. All of the _ elves _say the visions are important.

“Can we wait for one more?” she asks. “Maybe it’ll get more interesting.”

DJ whatever-their-name-is begins a new set, with a crackling _ You’re gonna love this new song, comes from a group coming up out of Elmville. From Fig and the Cig Figs, here’s. Well, the title isn’t really radio-friendly, but there’s always time to test out the curse-censoring spell. Here’s F*** Yeah, We Killed The Dragon. _

Through the speakers comes a heartbeat of a bassline. By the time the drums kick in Gorgug has a look of faint wonder on his face. Adaine reaches for the volume control instead and cranks it up.

\---

On the back of The Hangman, Fabian thinks _ Of course I’m not _ worried, _ Fig and The Ball are very capable people who can make good decisions— _

** _ Of course, _ ** The Hangman replies, ** _there must be many examples of prudence you are referring to that I was not around for, sire._ **

Fabian would think that his motorcycle was being sarcastic, but from what he’s seen The Hangman is _ literally _ incapable of doing that. There must really be examples of this, but all he can summon up is Fig creating the illusion of a ‘sexy rat’ as an investigation tactic and The Ball looking up at the towering form of Kalvaxus and saying _ I will fucking _ ** _eat _ ** _ you. _

Now, Fabian prides himself on his good judgement. He’s the son of Bill Seacaster, who had the best judgement of any man who ever lived. These instances do not seem particularly, exactly, super-wise. 

_ Oh fuck, _ he thinks, _ I’m the smart one, they can’t get shit done without me there to watch their backs and protect them. _

** _Sire, _ ** The Hangman growls, ** _we will get revenge on the one who has harmed them._ **

“Yes, revenge,” Fabian says aloud. “Revenge, _ absolutely.” _

** _And then we will retrieve Aelwyn Abernat from her prison, _ ** The Hangman prompts, because this has been the goal for months. It’s almost like a script at this point, that Fabian will free Aelwyn and they will, well, _ you know. _

Fabian returns to the idea that is _ Aelwyn, _familiar and unchanged. 

(He does not think of the silence where Fig’s voice should be, telling him to stop insulting Gilear. He does not think of the twisted form of The Ball’s body on the office floor. He does not think of his mother’s dagger at his throat, of the duel to the death that he is absolutely sure sits at the end of this journey. Fabian does not think about the difficult things, that he’s already killed one parent and doesn’t actually want to be an orphan, that he doesn’t know how to deal with love that lacks an element of threat, that his friends are missing and could be dead _ at this very moment.) _

No, Fabian thinks about Aelwyn. And Aelwyn is absolutely all he thinks about, thank you very much.

\---

Several hours down the road, the gas light turns on in the van. It doesn’t get _ super-great _mileage, Gorgug knows, because it’s really old. But that’s fine, because Gorgug has twenty-thousand gold for gas money.

“Hey,” he calls back to the rest of the passengers, “we gotta find a gas station if we wanna keep going.”

_ “Great _idea, dude,” Ragh says enthusiastically. “We definitely want to keep going.”

Gorgug smiles as Adaine pulls out that wire again to let Sandralynn and Fabian know that they need to stop soon. 

“Do we know where one is? I could cast Divination,” Kristen offers. “Not sure who I’ll ask, but I can do it. What really _ is _ a gas station, do you think? Like what’s the belief within it that doesn’t create doubt that you can base the rest of your knowledge on? _ Oh, _ or what makes you doubt it the most, since I’m asking... my own doubt? I guess? Wait, _ am I my own—” _

“I’ll look it up on my crystal,” Tracker says calmly. 

They pull into an all-night Pump&Stop about seven minutes later. Gorgug starts pumping gas and everyone else staggers out of the van into the StopShop, making vague noises about getting snacks or going to the bathroom. Fabian pulls to a stop beside him and leans against support beam, tense. There’s a _ thunk _on the metal overhang above them as Sandralynn lands her griffon. She effortlessly makes her way to the ground and also goes into the shop. 

The satyr at the counter barely flicks them a glance as the party piles into the store. Sandralynn makes a beeline for the alternate fuel section and buys the big bag of griffon food, along with “Whatever you guys are getting, as long as you get _ one thing _ within the next _ five minutes _ so we can get back on the road.”

Kristen races to the small, sad section of dried fruit and snags a bag of apple chips. _ Helio-Approved! _ is stamped on the side of the bag, but these are good, okay, and she’s not giving up her favorite car snack just because it’s connected to long drives to religious retreats. She's gonna _ eat _ these apple chips, and she's gonna _ like _them, damnit. 

Kristen is first to set her choice on the counter, quickly followed by Ragh slapping down a pack of red licorice sticks. “Don’t those stick to your teeth, dude?”

“Yeah, they’re great for getting the glass out! And they’re red which is, you know,” he nods to his bloodrush jacket. “Hoot Growl all day, even when you eat.” 

And it’s like, Kristen’s into asking questions now but she doesn’t want to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole so she just smiles and nods and thanks Sandralynn.

Tracker sets down a bag of toasted corn kernels with a grin. Sandralynn looks concerned before the werewolf mentions, “I can only break my teeth on the silver-flake flavor, and these are cool ranch. I double-checked, no worries. Thanks for the snacks, Sandralynn.”

Adaine is next with a blue energy drink for Gorgug. (“What flavor,” she hissed into the copper wire while she looked at the huge refrigerated wall of drink choices, but all he replied with was an enthusiastic _ Blue!) _ Sandralynn gives her a Concerned Look with such devastating precision that Adaine grabs the first thing she sees for herself, a package of mini donuts. “Thank you,” she says politely, and Boggy gives another cheery _ ribbit! _

Cathilda sets down one of those weirdly short tubes of chips they carry at gas stations. She thanks Sandralynn while adjusting her headband and mentions that she already has some kippers in the car for Young Master Fabian, in case he gets hungry. Sealed in an arcane container, of course, to contain any possible odor. 

Gilear gets some beef jerky and Sandralynn knows she should mention that there’s no way anyone could ever chew it, if it’s been on that back shelf and was under a layer of dust, but she doesn’t. Instead she settles the tab and everyone heads back out into the cool spring night, to the waiting car and impatiently waiting griffon and practically-leaving-the-parking-lot motorcycle.

\---

Adaine drifts with her head against the window, breath slightly fogging up the glass. Boggy leans against the window too, and Adaine thinks _ frogging up the glass. _If she were more awake she would share that with the rest of the dozing car. The only one in the van that’s completely alert is Gorgug, who’s drank half of his blue-flavored almost-juice and is watching the road intently. 

Right up against the edge of falling into a meditative trance, the fog of her breath on the window goes pure white and a vision snags her once more.

In the vision, Fig stands at the edge of a lake and chucks something into the water. Seriously throws it, putting her whole body into the motion, everything short of her other arm. A red sparkle catches the moonlight as it _ plops _ into the middle of the water, raising only a slight ripple. Something is strange, though, and Adaine thinks _ show me again. _The scene resets.

Fig stands at the edge of a lake and chucks something into the water as hard as she can. In her other hand is an ordinary rock. She’s holding it so tightly that her off-hand is shaking. Something is strange, and, _ again. _The scene resets.

Adaine recently finished getting her certification of Proficiency in Arcana. There had been a very small gathering (her friends) at a casual venue (Basrar’s) to celebrate. Fig stands at the edge of a lake and the moment before something leaves her hand there’s a flicker of magic in the night air.

In the vision, Fig’s mouth moves almost imperceptibly and Adaine watches the rock in her hand turn red and shining and the ruby in her other hand turn smooth and... rock-like. As hard as she can, Fig throws what looks like a ruby into the center of a lake. 

On her head, hard to see in Adaine’s vision, there’s something shifting strangely. A shadow in the dim light at the lakeshore, nestled in her friend’s hair like a crown. The vision ends.

_ Again, _ Adaine thinks, waking up more and more with each passing second. _ Again. _

_ Ribbit, _Boggy ribbits. He exudes his happy-to-be-here feeling. His adorable roundness is soothing. 

\---

There’s a little bit of moonlight coming in through the van’s window, illumination assisted once in a while by a streetlamp or the headlights of a passing car. Tracker's nodding off, head tipping forward until her chin hits her chest and she raises her head again.

Kristen stares at her face and doesn’t forget everything that’s wrong, not exactly, but everything feels a little less difficult. Between each long blink, there’s the bend in Tracker’s nose, there’s the edge of her jaw, there’s a glimpse of her eyelashes against her cheek. Kristen’s not all the way asleep, the way some of the others are. She’s not, she just can’t remember the last two songs that were playing quietly on the radio. But it’s fine, because when she opens her eyes each time there’s Tracker again.

Cathilda tucks a blanket around Ragh’s shoulders and hums in sleepy reassurance when he mumbles a thank-you. In the very back, Gilear is giving up on his beef jerky and resigning himself to a trance for the evening.

Under the open sky Fabian pulls his jacket more tightly closed and glares at the moon, at the stars, at the back bumper of the van and at anything else he can glare at. He doesn’t think of Riz’s-face-that-wasn't-Riz's-face less than an inch from his own, twisted the wrong way around on some idea of a neck, coming straight at his eye. He doesn’t. He doesn’t think of the new teeth sprouting in the gash at the edge of the monster’s mouth. It’s just a little cold out here, it’s fine. It’s fine. He isn’t afraid of anything.

\---

The vision of Riz comes to Adaine in fragments, disjointed. She sees the set of his jaw, then the curve of his hand around his father’s pistol. He’s at a dock, near the water; she hears the soft _ plop _of something hitting the surface of a liquid, feels the wooden planks under Riz’s feet.

His shoulder moves in the way it does when he’s raising his gun. Adaine can’t see the target.

“I’m sorry, this is gonna hurt,” he says, and Adaine sees his mouth, frowning. He doesn’t sound like he did fighting Kalvaxus; there’s something worryingly uncertain in his voice. She sees his clothed back shaking slightly.

But his hand does not shake where she sees him aim his weapon.

\---

Against a starry backdrop, Sandralynn steers her griffon with her knees while putting fletching on new arrows. _ I’m going to find you, _ she promises her daughter, _ And we are _ getting _ you an A on this project. _

_ I suspect this jerky is actually discarded leather meant for shoes, _ Gilear thinks as the van goes over an unexpected pothole. He hits his head against the side and once again fails to settle into a trance. _ Figueroth, I am on my way with your immensely more powerful friends and allies. I will try not to be killed by Fabian before we find you. _

In Elmville, Sklonda stares into a shitty cup of coffee. She puts it down on her desk in the precinct in frustration and it breaks, fucking of _ course _ it does, but this is Elmville and the reports it’s ruining were just gonna go into the monthly document bonfire anyway. She stands up and walks right out of the building, gets in her car and heads instead for Riz’s office to go over his clues again. _ Find your friends fast, _ she mentally orders him, _ and get the Nightmare King so we can have something other than leftover dragon for dinner. _

Trapped in a ruby for the third damn time, Gorthalax the Insatiable waits for a way out. 

\---

Adaine jerks back to awareness with a gunshot ringing in her ears, with the sound of something shattering, with Fig’s sharp exhale of pain. And she doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.

_ Ribbit, _says Boggy, and she relaxes her jaw. It aches from the force of her clenching it, and there’s a headache building at her temples. 

_ Ribbit, _says Boggy, and she sees the lights of Bastion City blinking in the distance. Gorgug flicks on the blinker, the indicator light clicking on and off as he moves the van into the right lane. Their exit is in three-quarters of a mile.

Soon, the sun will rise.

**Author's Note:**

> offscreen, there’s a really angst-driven story of riz following fig and trying to find a way to break the enchantment on her but like, i wanted to write a story where i get to push my very specific road trip snack headcanons so that’s what i did.  
i really like writing oneshots and codas that will become moot once the next episode airs, or don’t fit the canon timeline at all, and i’m so into this new season that i thought i’d try writing one for FH! title of this fic comes from “I’m On The Road” by the Partridge Family, which the must-have song on my road trip playlists. i have a lot of feelings about early partridge family songs and fantasy high, it turns out (“I Think I Love You” is a fabriz song, no i will not explain myself.)  
it’s my first time writing for the fandom, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! this was really fun to write and i hope to do some more fantasy high fic in the future! this turned out much longer than i meant for it to be but i hope it was enjoyable!


End file.
